The Belmont women's basketball team extended its longest season in history Monday, earning a berth in the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament championship after knocking off Villanova 66-57 in the semifinals.
The win came at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and sent the No. 3 seed Bruins into the finals, which will also be played at Hinkle, on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT, ESPN2).
Belmont will play the winner of the Florida-Minnesota game in the championship.
The Bruins (26-12) played in the NCAA tournament in six of the previous eight seasons including reaching the second round in 2021 and 2022. This is their second straight season in the WBIT. They lost to Penn State in the second round in 2023-24.
Guards Jailyn Banks from Middle Tennessee Christian School, and Kendall Holmes, a South Dakota transfer, proved to be too much for No. 4 seed Villanova (21-15) to handle with their ability to drive to the bucket. Banks scored a game-high 25 points and Holmes scored 14.
Belmont had won nine of its previous 10 games heading into the semifinals. The Bruins defeated Middle Tennessee State, (64-51), Northern Arizona (81-80) and James Madison (90-45) in the first three rounds of the tournament.
After Villanova cut Belmont's lead to six in the fourth quarter Vanderbilt transfer Kendal Cheesman nailed a 3-pointer with 2:21 left giving the Bruins their biggest lead to that point at 63-54.
Cheesman finished with 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds and senior Tuti Jones had 10 points.
Maddie Webber led Villanova with 18 points and Jasmine Bascoe was the Wildcats' only other double-figure scored with 10 points.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Belmont women's basketball reaches WBIT championship with Villanova win
